Georgia Department of Human Services:

Agency Overview

Presenter: Keith Horton, Commissioner

Presented to: Child Welfare Reform Council

Date: May 1, 2014

Georgia Department of Human Services

Vision, Mission and Core ValuesVision

Stronger Families for a Stronger Georgia.Mission

Strengthen Georgia by providing Individuals and Families access to services that promote self-sufficiency, independence, and protect Georgia's vulnerable children and adults.

Core Values• Provide access to resources that offer support and

empower Georgians and their families. • Deliver services professionally and treat all clients

with dignity and respect. Manage business operations effectively and efficiently by aligning resources across the agency.

• Promote accountability, transparency and quality in all services we deliver and programs we administer.

• Develop our employees at all levels of the agency.

DHS ProfileDivision of Aging Services

Division of Child Support Services

Division of Family and Children Services

Mission Assist older individuals, at risk adults, persons with disabilities and their families to achieve safe, healthy, independent and self reliant lives

Collect and distribute child support (establish paternity, support orders, enforcement, review and modification)

Child protective services and family preservation and independence

# of employees

299 ~1050, contract with over 100 attorneys and 9 District Attorneys

~6000

Programs & Initiatives

Home and Community Based Services, Senior Employment, Medicaid Waiver, Health and Wellness, Adult Protective Services, Guardianship

Fatherhood, Problem Solving Court, Prison Re-entry, Prison paternity and Enhanced Transition Job Grant

Child protective services, TANF, Food Stamp, Medicaid eligibility, Child care eligibility, Foster care, Adoption, Refugee

Customersserved

~1M ~1.2M ~2.2M

Location 12 Area Agency on Aging 58 Offices 180 Offices

Georgia Department of Human Services/ Division of Family & Children Services:DFCS Current Workload, Strategies & InitiativesPresenter: Sharon L. Hill, PhD DFCS Division Director

Presented to: Child Welfare Reform Council

Date: May 1, 2014

Georgia Department of Human Services

Presentation Outline

• Organization of DFCS• Georgia Child Welfare Data Child Protective Services Foster Care Services• Strategies & Initiatives• Federal Mandates & Reports

DFCS Organizational Chart

DFCS Regions Regions Regional

Directors1 James Binnicker2 Kenny Jarvis3 Ross Collins4 Lon Roberts5 Mary Havick6 Robert Brown7 Lynn Barmore8 Margaretha Morris9 Stacey Barfield

10 Deborah Smith11 Vicki Townsend12 Richard

Chamberlain13 Randy Jenkins14 LaMarva Ivory15 Lee Biggar

Field Operations

Director

Jeffrey Lukich

CPS Intakes Received

This chart shows the total number of intakes that were received between March 2013 and March 2014.

Mar-13

Apr-13 May-13

Jun-13

Jul-13 Aug-13

Sep-13

Oct-13 Nov-13

Dec-13

Jan-14

Feb-14

Mar-14

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

10,000

• The number of Child Protective Services Cases (Investigations & Family Preservation have increased by 88% since 2010 and almost doubled from a year ago).

• Increase can be attributed to statewide centralized intake system and highly publicized child deaths.

• Significant increase in the number of active investigations; twice as many as one year ago.

Child Placement Services cases includes several categories of “out-of-home” care such as children in the legal custody of DFCS, extended youth supportive services (18-21), Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children (ICPC) and children in the care of relatives.

The number of children in the legal custody of DFCS is at its highest since SFY 2009. We have had steady increases since October 2013. Note. The chart reflects the number of children in care at any time during the month.

There have been more children entering foster care than leaving since September 2013. The top number reflects the number of children in care on the last day of each month. The preceding charts reflected the total number of children in foster care throughout the month,

• Two significant federal outcome measures are recurrence of substantiated maltreatment (the percent of children who are victims of maltreatment within a 6 month period) and foster care re-entry rate (percent of children who re-enter foster care within 12 months of exiting care.

• Georgia continues to perform well on both.

Children in Foster Care by Region

Region April 1, 2013April 1, 2014 % Change

1 500 516 3%2 368 408 10%3 969 1,122 14%4 496 502 1%5 415 520 20%6 516 554 7%7 216 296 27%8 373 473 21%9 142 136 -4%

10 350 296 -18%11 505 557 9%12 608 596 -2%13 486 501 3%14 1,016 1,040 2%15 696 766 9%

Total 7,698 8,323 8%

Over the past year the number of children in foster care has grown by 8%. Only 3 regions showed a decrease. Additionally, 3 regions showed increases that were 20% or more.

Second column reflects the number of children in care on April 1, 2013 and third column reflects April 1, 2014 while the last shows the percent of change between 2013 & 2014.

Ratio of Case Managers to Caseloads

• This chart is based upon the total number of active Foster Care, Family Support, Family Preservation, and Investigations open during a month divided by the number of filled Case Manager positions.

Oct-11

Dec-11

Feb-12

Apr-12

Jun-1

2

Aug-12

Oct-12

Dec-12

Feb-13

Apr-13

Jun-1

3

Aug-13

Oct-13

Dec-13

10.011.012.013.014.015.016.017.018.019.020.0

Average Caseload Sizes

Current Strategies & Initiatives• DFCS Action Plan to Improve Safety for Children• CPS Intake Communication Center (statewide centralized

intake)• Safety Response System• Placement Privatization Pilots in Regions 3 & 5• IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project• Kinship Navigator Program (DFCS Ombudsman)• Transition of Children in Foster Care / Adoption Assistance

from Medicaid Fee-For-Service to CMO• Enhance Services to Older Youth in Care – Move to an “Opt-

Out- Model• Kenny A Consent Decree • Fatherhood Agents Youth Engagement Program

DFCS Action Plan to Improve SafetyAction Plan Status

Increase number of DFCS case managers.  Complete statewide roll out of the CPS Intake Communication Center.  Intake workers will be fully trained in Safety Response System Model.  Training for CPS staff on interviewing children from Georgia Child Advocacy Center.

 

Training for CPS staff on interviewing and assessing adults from Georgia Public Safety Training Center.

 

Ongoing review of reports that were screened out from October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013 and then ongoing review.

 

Implementation of an Internal Safety Panel to review and provide consultation on specified investigations and Family Support cases prior to closure.

 

CHOA Child Protection Health Team to provide consultation on casesUtilize External Review Team to develop and implement model Child Death/Serious Injury Staffing Process & to provide training to staff.

 

Develop Predictive Analytics to identify factors that create unsafe situations for children.

 

Develop protocols with pediatricians across the state for early intervention of child well being and safety through training and various forums such as Summits.

CPS Intake Communication Center Goal: Ensure 24/7 accessibility and uniformity in the reporting

of child abuse and neglect in Georgia. • One number to report abuse/neglect• Intake decisions made using Safety Response

System framework• Uniformity in the determination of responses

to reports (screen-out, investigation or family support)

• Ability to monitor phone calls as they occur• Improve quality of our assessment of reports• Ensure most appropriate response made

to reports of abuse/neglect• Capacity for virtual intake system (staff can work from any

location); important for overnight, weekends and holidays

Note. The CPS Intake Communication Center is our Statewide Centralized Intake System.

Placement Privatization PilotsService Description. DFCS would contract with a lead agency

in the two regions who would be responsible for all placement related services for children in foster care, including foster home recruitment, location of placement resources, monitoring and oversight of safety and well-being of children in CPAs and CCIs.

Regions 3 and 5 selected based on the following criteria:1) challenges around the recruitment and development of high

quality foster homes2) high percentage of children placed outside of the region3) high transportation costs associated with children in foster

care

IV-E Waiver Demonstration ApplicationGeorgia submitted a IV-E Waiver

Demonstration application to provide flexible funding for the following target groups:

• Short-Stayers in Foster Care (children in care for 90 days or less)

• Children in Need of Services (CHINS)• Step-Down Children from Congregate

Care

Georgia’s Proposed Kinship Navigator ProgramGoal: Ensure grandparents and other relatives and “kins” are able to access

and navigate Department of Human Services programs (including child welfare, Office of Family Independence, Aging and Child Support) and the court system in order to provide for necessary care for children.

• Provide information and assistance to caregivers so they can access relevant federal and state benefits.  

• Pro-actively mediate with state agency staff and/or service providers and, when necessary, assist in establishing relationships between kinship caregivers and relevant state and federal agency staff, including Area Agencies on Aging and the Department of Education.

• Accompany grandfamilies to court and help them navigate the legal system. • Have access to state funds to provide short term support to grandfamilies,

things like paying for a crib or school supplies. • Provide supportive listening to grandparents and relatives of all ages who are

raising children or planning to do so.  • Reach out and locate kinship care families in their service area, identifying

those not involved in support group networks and/or in need of additional services.  Special attention is focused on serving relatives from geographically isolated and ethnic communities.

Georgia’s Proposed Model for Kinship Navigator Program

State Director of Kinship

Navigators

Administrative Support

Regional Kinship Navigators (15)

Part-time Kinship Ombudsmen or

Liaisons (Division of Aging)

Volunteer Advocates for

Kinship Programs in each area

Note: Possible funding for Administrative Support and State and Regional Kinship Navigators would be TANF.

Care Managed Organization & Virtual Health RecordDefinition: A virtual view of patient health information gathered from multiple data sources.

The Georgia HIE keeps data at its original source, allowing authorized providers and users to securely query for and receive patient health information.

Georgia HIE

Network

We will support our youth as they transition into adulthood!

Enhance Quality of Services for Older Youth

Moving to “Opt-Out” of Care Model

This policy change would increase the number of youth 18 to 21 who remain in care.

Children In Need of Services (CHINS)• CHINS is a new paradigm for interacting with status offenders, that became effective January 2014 as a result of HB 242

• Status offenses are offenses committed by children that would not be considered a crime if committed by an adult. They include acts such as running away, skipping school, and being unruly or ungovernable.

• The philosophy behind CHINS is to focus on the underlying reasons behind a child's presenting behaviors to prevent further involvement in both the delinquency and dependency systems.

• DFCS is working with two juvenile courts through a pilot project utilizing a CHINS Coordinator and a problem solving court approach to responding to CHINS youth and their families. These courts are in Bartow County and Polk and Haralson Counties (one judge is assigned to these two counties).

Kenny A Consent Decree• June 2002, Children’s Rights Incorporated filed a class action

lawsuit against the State of Georgia; of Georgia’s 159 counties, Fulton and DeKalb’s foster care systems were named

• Under the terms and conditions of the Kenny A. Consent Decree, the State must achieve and sustain 29 Outcomes, as well as maintain certain practice standards related to; Needs assessments; Service planning; Placement experience; Health care; Investigation of maltreatment allegations and Court reviews and reporting

• Must meet all of the 29 outcomes consecutively for an 18 month period before exiting the consent decree

An external review team will be completing a summary of DFCS activities and progress to date and make recommendations for future actions.

Significant Current & Upcoming Federal MandatesThe following reports / mandates must be completed by June

30, 2014• Annual Progress & Services Report: Progress & Outcomes

from Past Five Years• Child and Family Services Report: Strategic Plan for 2014 –

2019• IV-E Program Improvement Plan (PIP): ensure all policies are

updated, comprehensive and in alignment with federal and state statutes

Federal Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) coming in 2015

Strategic Leadership Plans for All DFCS Section & Regional DirectorsValues Focus & Outcomes

Child safety and family well-being are at the core of every thing we do.

Focus I. Safety & Well-being of Children DFCS meets or exceeds critical outcomes related to the safety and well-being of the children and families we serve.

A stable, competent, and professional workforce is essential to quality outcomes.

Focus II. Employee Development Staff perform in an exceptional manner and have opportunities for growth because we invest in them.

Our commitments and obligations will be carried out with integrity, quality, and transparency.

Focus III. Accountability, Commitment to Permanency & Integrity We maintain fidelity to plans and commitments to children in care and make adjustments when needed timely and transparently. *The Commitment to OUR Children

We are most effective in achieving our mission when we partner, develop, and maintain strong relationships with our clients, customers and external stakeholders.

Focus IV. Strong External Partnerships We develop and maintain strong partnerships, alliances, and strategic relationships in order to meet shared goals and objectives for children and families..

DFCS PrioritiesSafety & Well-being

Opportunities for Employees

Accountability, Commitment to Permanency & Integrity

Relationships with our Partners